China in Transition:
Will Economic Reform Lead to Democracy in China?
Event Date: September 23, 2003
The John W. Kluge Center, the Asian Division, and the Science, Technology and Business Division presented
a symposium entitled “China in Transition: Will Economic Reform Lead to Democracy in China?”
The program, held in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, was free and open to the public.
The panel of scholars discussed how economic reforms have transformed Chinese society and affected
China’s authoritarian single party system. The scholars examined issues that face the new Chinese leadership,
China’s single party system, and challenges that contemporary Chinese society pose to the legitimacy of the country’s
current political structure.
The panel, chaired by Robert Worden of the Federal Research Division, included Bruce J. Dickson, professor
of political science and international affairs, George Washington University; Minxin Pei, senior associate and co-director,
China Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Lanxin Xiang, holder of the
Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress;
and Quansheng Zhao, professor and division director of comparative and regional studies,
American University and associate-in-research at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University.
Through a generous endowment from its namesake, the Library of Congress established the
John W. Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together those who will stimulate and energize discussion
and will bring that discussion to policymakers in Washington, D.C.
For more information about any of the fellowship, grants and programs offered by the
John W. Kluge Center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs,
Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E. Washington, DC 20540-4860;
telephone (202) 707-3302, fax (202) 707-3595, or visit the
Web at www.loc.gov/kluge
Learn more about the Science, Technology and Business Division online at
www.loc.gov/rr/scitech
and the Asian Division at www.loc.gov/rr/asian
